Anna was taken aback when she noticed Randal wearing a black wireless headphone clipped to his right ear.
The robust men in black in the crowd were the bouncers Randal had left with Scott to protect him.
No wonder Scott dares to scold the hell out of those shameless jerks,
Anna thought.
She exhaled a sigh of relief as she watched the chaotic crowd in the distance. She thought those people were pathetic and ludicrous at the same time.
Shirley and Allie had spent their entire lives scheming and getting all their scrappy relatives to work for Gabriel’s group. What they didn’t expect, though, was that something unexpected had occurred. Then, Allie passed away, and Shirley disappeared. Instead of looking for Shirley, their so-called “relatives” hoped someone would continue operating the Gabriel Group. That way, they could keep getting paid for doing nothing.
After leaving the funeral, Randal drove Anna home.
Scott sat on the couch and said to Anna, “Just ignore them, okay. They’re all psychos. If I hadn’t come in time today, they might have hurt you.”
Once Anna realized what was right and wrong and weighed the pros and cons, she certainly knew that the most important thing was to protect herself. So, of course, she would not take responsibility for the group.
She nodded before looking at Randal and then said, “You’ve been showing up together a lot recently. So, are you guys dating?”
Scott was taken aback by her words and nearly spit out the coffee he had just sipped. He said, “No! We’re just friends.”
“Really?” Anna looked at Randal skeptically. Scott might be too embarrassed to admit it, she thought.
Randal answered, looking at Scott, “Well, we’re sort of friends.” “What do you mean ‘sort of’?” Anna pursued.
“You know, everyone has a different definition of ‘friend’. If he says we’re friends, then we are.”
Anna asked, puzzled, “What are you talking about?” “In other words, he’s the only ‘friend’I have.”
Anna understood what Randal meant. She smiled, looked over at Scott, and noticed his face turned from fair to rosy. She intended to tease him and deliberately asked, “Hey, why are you blushing, Scott?”
Scott defended himself awkwardly by saying, “I feel hot.” “What? It’s fall already!” Anna said teasingly.
“Oh, it’s really hot! Don’t you feel hot? It’s so hot in your house, so I don’t want to stay here anymore. Bye, Anna, I’m leaving.”
When Scott finished, he was ready to get up. At that point, Randall looked as if he had been ready to leave for a long time. He also stood up, straightened his clothes, and said, “I’ll drive you home.”
And Anna could see Scott’s face flush even more.
Anna dialed Selina’s number after Scott and Randal had left. She asked, “Hello, Auntie Selina. Where’s Tammy?”
“We had just finished eating our lunch. And Joe is trying to let her take a nap.” Selina replied, and her voice sounded much softer than before.
“What? Uncle Joe? Doesn’t he have to work?”
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that your uncle retired last week. He travelled to London this week for a jazz event. But he returned as soon as he learned Tammy was coming to stay with us. I knew he wasn’t good at getting along with kids, so I told him to let me take care of Tammy. And he said he was sure he could make it. What a fool!”
Anna laughed and said, “Uncle Joe just retired, so he’s probably looking for something to keep himself busy.”
Selina also laughed and said, “You’re right. By the way, there’s a family gathering this Friday night. There won’t be too many people there, just us and Bruce’s family. You should come too, Anna.”
Anna paused for a bit before responding, “Is it necessary for me to go? Well, we haven’t seen one other for a long time.”
“What do you mean? Don’t you want to spend time with us anymore?” “Oh, no, that’s not what I mean.” “Okay, then you must come. I’ll pick you up at your place on Friday.”
Anna felt that she couldn’t refuse Selina’s invitations any longer. Moreover, she realized that she didn’t have any family members other than these two uncles and their families.
In fact, she knew why Selina invited her.
Selina arrived on time at Anna’s house on Friday night to pick her up and drive her to the hotel for dinner. Her black Rolls Royce was parked next to Anna’s apartment.
Tammy hugged Anna as soon as she stepped into the car. She said, “Hi, Mommy! What took you so long? I’m starving!”
Anna smiled, stroked her hair, and said, “Well, sit in your seat, honey. The car is about to start.”
Anna greeted her uncle, who was sitting in the passenger seat in front of her, once she was seated.
“Mommy, look at my new dress! Do you like it? It has diamonds on it!” Tammy exclaimed as she lifted the hem of her dress to show Anna when she sat down.
Tammy wore a little blue yarn skirt and a black leather jacket. There were two brown leather shoes on her feet and white socks with lace. Anna had recently watched a lot of Fall/Winter runways of fashion brands because she was beginning a clothes company. She guessed that the outfit was the latest clothes from Bottega Veneta. She had no idea how much Tammy’s dress was worth, and she saw that she was holding a Gucci handbag.
“You don’t have to buy such expensive clothes for Tammy, Aunt Selina.”
Selina shook her head, “Tammy is your only daughter, so you should let her wear nice clothes. You should strive to spend much money on your daughter if you have one. Otherwise, the lads will think that dating her is easy.”
At that moment, Joe said, “Yes, I agree with Selina. We aren’t coddling her in any way. We just want Tammy to be happy.”
“Aunt Selina, you shouldn’t make life so easy for her.” Anna said.
“If you want to talk to me about how to grow up in a stressful environment, then you can stop talking. My parents used to give me a hard time when I was a kid, and that’s why! have a weird temper.” Selina said.
Then, Anna froze.
She realized this was the first time Selina had described herself as odd. When she peered in the rearview mirror, she noticed Joe also showed a surprised expression.
“That’s rare,” Joe said slowly.
Selina, of course, heard what he said. She rolled her eyes and said, “You know, someone even abandoned his wife and kids! Is that rare? Well, luckily, he got exactly what he deserved.”
Anna immediately understood what she meant. She guessed couldn’t understand what Selina was saying.
“Come on, Selina, Tammy’s here. Don’t bring it up again.”
Selina stated straightforwardly, “No, I don’t think we need to hide it from her. Tammy is little, but she knows how to tell right from wrong. So, we don’t have to make her believe that this is a wonderful world. She isn’t living in a fairy tale, after all.”
“Okay, honey,” Joe said as he felt resigned.
Selina was obviously irritated by his attitude. She then furrowed her eyebrows and seemed to lose her temper.
Anna immediately said before she got angry, “Okay, Aunt Selina, it’s all right. We don’t need to bring it up again now that it’s over. Tammy’s a big girl now, isn’t she? She actually knows what’s going on.”
She then cast a glance towards Tammy.
Tammy instantly responded with a nod and said, “Yes, I know everything. You don’t need to be concerned about me.”
At this moment, Selina appeared to be less angry. She Anna, you shouldn’t get involved with the Gabriel Group anymore. You know, it’s a big mess.”
Anna nodded, trying not to appear concerned.
Everyone in the city knew that the Gabriel Group had run out of money after Allie’s death. Furthermore, the news had made every media outlet’s front page. And everyone was speculating about why this occurred, and why the tax office looked into it. Furthermore,
Gabriel Group’s ongoing projects had all been temporarily halted.
Hundreds of people lost their employment as the real estate projects were halted.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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